Midu's Magic (4 page)

"That's lucky?"

He chuckled. "Life just keeps getting better.
Tonight, you get to chug the clean-out potion."

When they wheeled her to a room, she opened
her mouth to protest, and Kyle glared. "Don't even start. You're
not going home, and you're seeing this through."

He knew her too well. "But this is one of our
busy times. We need to…."

He interrupted. "We need to get your gall
bladder out. Then you'll be healthy. One thing at a time."

She grimaced. "That's one of your favorite
sayings."

"For good reason. Just ask Thea. Life has
certain patterns. You and I have reached a turning point, but we'll
talk about that later."

She groaned. She didn't know which hurt
more—her gall bladder or the thought of losing Kyle. She'd never
known she could feel so miserable.

Kyle bent to kiss her forehead. "Doc says you
should get some rest. Your prep starts early tomorrow. I'll be here
to wave you off."

"To the operating room?"

He smiled. "It's the last time I'll see you
with a gall bladder."

"Smart ass."

He laughed. "Maybe they'll pull your hair up
to keep it out of their way, and you'll look as sexy as you did for
the kids."

He was pushing his luck. She glared. "I tried
to look nice that day."

He rubbed a finger over her cheek. "To me,
you're always beautiful."

Oh, Lord. Her heart stopped. It was a good
thing she was in a hospital, in case she was about to die
happy.

"I'll see you in the morning." His lips
pressed against her forehead one more time, and he was gone.

She was too excited to calm down to sleep.
Kyle had called her beautiful. She'd replay the words over and over
again in her mind. And then a nurse strode in the room. "Now the
fun starts. You need to clean out your system. This will help." She
placed a gallon of some kind of fluid on the cart by the bed, along
with a glass.

Midu sighed. This was going to be a long
night.

By the time she'd visited the bathroom for
the last time, Midu was exhausted. She crawled into bed and tried
to recall her last conversation with Kyle, but she couldn't form
any coherent thoughts and soon drifted to sleep.

Noises woke her. Wheels rolling in the
hallway. A cart clattering into her room.

She opened her eyes to see Kyle hovering
close by.

"It's just about show time," he said.

She smiled. She felt groggy, but the world
always looked better when Kyle was near. He squeezed her hand when
they rolled her away.

She vaguely remembered the recovery room and
then Kyle waiting for her when they wheeled to her own bed. He took
her hand, and she smiled, and then her eyes closed again. Her mind
wandered in swirls of odd thoughts. She pictured raising her
hospital gown to see bright, gold threads zigzag across her body in
a crazy quilt pattern. Thea Patek patted her hand and said, "Don't
worry. Each zigzag is just a journey, but they're ugly as sin."
Kyle leaned over to inspect them and shook his head. "See? I knew
it. She zigs where I zag." Midu started to protest. "No, when the
threads are removed, I can change. We can follow the same
pattern."

A nurse woke her, coming in to check her
vitals. Kyle was still there. Midu sighed when she saw him. "Thanks
for staying."

Kyle started to answer when Doc swung through
the door. He grinned when he saw her awake.

"Well, young lady, you came through that with
flying colors, but I'm not happy with one of your labs, so we're
keeping you here a bit longer. No worries, though. You'll be
feeling better in no time."

She didn't believe him. Even on pain meds,
she felt crappy. "How long will I be here?"

He raised an eyebrow. "For you, one more
night. That way, you won't be in a greenhouse before you should
be."

When Midu didn't protest, Doc grinned. "I'll
enjoy this while I can. Once you feel a little better, you'll be
bugging me to go home." He turned to talk to the nurse a minute
before he gave her a wave. "Stay out of trouble, and you might want
to be careful what you eat for a while until you see if it agrees
with you."

When Doc and the nurse left, Kyle came to
stand by her bed. He wore a pinched expression. She had a momentary
twinge of guilt. She'd coerced him into eating supper with her last
night. How could he leave for Lynn's house when she'd gone to so
much bother, making food she knew he liked? And that led to her
rush to the hospital, and he was too good of a friend to ditch her
here.

She studied his tired face. She doubted he
slept much last night. No nurse gave him a shot to knock him out.
He probably wanted to see Lynn and go to bed. No! She rearranged
those thoughts, separating them from each other. But she did feel
guilty, keeping him here. "Why don't you go home and get some rest?
You deserve a little time to relax."

He studied her. "Are you trying to get rid of
me?"

"No, but I've monopolized all your time. I
appreciate your being here for me, but I'm fine now."

"And what if I want to stay?"

A nurse swooshed into the room and answered
before Midu could. "Patients rest better when they're left alone.
This young woman could use some sleep."

Kyle grimaced. "You're telling me that she'd
be better off if I left."

The nurse gave a knowing smile. "In the
nicest way possible, yes."

Kyle ran a hand through his soft hair. "Fair
enough, but I'll be back later tonight." He looked at Midu. "Do you
want me to bring you anything?"

"My Kindle?"

He nodded. "I'll see you later."

Midu sagged against the pillows when he left.
He was probably going to Lynn's house. She wondered how close he
was to finishing her cupboards.
If
he'd be working on those
today. Maybe he had more important things to take care of.

She frowned at the nurse, and the woman
raised her eyebrows.

"Don't give me that look. You
do
need
your rest. He'll be back. Just wait and see."

With a sigh, Midu closed her eyes. What did
the nurse know? She didn't know that Midu had been a giant dumbass,
taking Kyle for granted all these years, and now she might lose
him. Before she could fuss more, though, she was asleep.

The rest of the day blipped by in bits and
pieces. Sometimes, she was awake. Sometimes, she wasn't. And the
rest, she was groggy.

After supper, there was a quick knock on the
door and Kyle stepped into the room with Lynn and a thin,
thoughtful-looking man. Lynn's brows crinkled with worry.

"I hope you're up for a visit. Kyle thought
you might like company. He hasn't stopped talking about you. Greg
didn't pace this much when I delivered Ginny."

Midu frowned. She glanced at the man by
Lynn's side. "Are you Greg?"

The man nodded. "We haven't met yet. Lynn
moved to Emerald Hills ahead of me to get her shop ready, but I
can't leave Indianapolis until the semester's finished."

Maybe the nurse gave her too strong of a
shot. Midu's brain couldn't keep up. "I'm sorry. I don't
understand."

Greg smiled. "I got a job, working on
computer software at I.U., but I can't start until I finish up at
the Indy regional campus."

Her head felt muddled. It must have
shown.

Lynn smiled. "You know, we've never really
been introduced. I bought Dan's jewelry shop in town and came here
early to get things ready for tourist season. This is my husband,
Greg, and he got hired at the university in Bloomington, but he and
our daughter, Ginny, can't move here until their school year's
finished. They only came to visit today."¶Midu blinked. Lynn's
husband. A daughter. Lynn was married. She scowled at Kyle. Why
hadn't he told her? Then she couldn't stop the smile that blossomed
on her face. Lord, Lynn must think she was an idiot. She tried for
normalcy. "How old is Ginny?" she asked.

Lynn glanced at her husband. "Depends on if
you ask her or us. Six, going on thirty."

"You'll have to introduce her to Bridey,"
Kyle said. "They're the same age."

Midu nodded. "In Bridey's mind, she rules the
world. But then, she's definitely the center of the universe for
Gino and Evelyn."

Kyle took her hand and stroked it gently.
"How are you doing? We don't want to wear you out."

"Never better," she said. And it was the
truth. Midu felt happier than she had for days. She turned to Greg.
She
liked
this man. He'd married Lynn and made her
unavailable. "You should meet Tana's Nate. He works at I.U., too.
They own the Sweet Shoppe."

They were making small talk when an aide
carried a bouquet of flowers into the room—daisies, her favorites
and jasmine, reminders of home. Her mother always bought jasmine.
The pitcher that held them was peacock blue, her favorite color.
The aide handed her the attached card, and Midu read, "With love,
Kyle."

She blinked back tears. Maybe the anesthesia
made her more emotional. "They're beautiful."

Kyle grinned. "Almost as nice as the ones we
grow." Midu had a jasmine in her small, personal greenhouse. And
they always had daisies blooming in their perennial beds. He looked
at Lynn. "Where's Shortie? Did you ditch her at the shop?"

"Thea Patek's daughter let her stay at their
bakery with her. They were making pie crusts when we left. We can't
leave her there long. Ginny will want to move in with them. That
girl has a sweet tooth."

Greg glanced at his watch. "We only stopped
in to say hello and introduce ourselves to you. Maybe Kyle will
relax now that you're feeling better."

Lynn reached for Greg's hand, and they left.
Kyle came to stand beside the bed.

"You gave me quite a scare," he said.

Midu grimaced and decided to go for it. "Then
it's mutual. You scared me, too."

"Me?" Kyle looked surprised.

"I didn't realize Lynn was married. I thought
you were spending time at her shop because you were interested in
her."

Kyle stared. "Haven't you listened to one
word I've been saying lately?"

"Yes. You said that we were reaching a
turning point, that you were ready to get married and have
children. I thought you were thinking of Lynn."

He rubbed his forehead. "I must not be good
with women. I was trying…."

She interrupted. "I want it to be me."

He looked totally caught off guard. "But you
always told me that I wasn't the one, that your produce…."

"Thea told me that no one can use their own
magic in their own lives. I've been waiting for something that will
never happen."

He sighed. He reached into his jacket pocket
and pulled out a small, narrow weaving and held it up for her to
see. "I only needed the answer to one question, so I only asked
Thea to weave me one, small part of my life...."

Midu covered her face with her hands, and
Kyle stammered to a stop.

"Don't you want to know what it means?" he
finally asked.

"Not if it means I'm losing you."

Very quietly, he said, "It means I'm in love
with my best friend, and that's the way it's supposed to be. We're
right for each other, if I can just convince her to stop listening
to produce and start listening to her heart."

Midu's hands fell to the bed. She studied his
face. "So…."

"We're meant for each other. I'm destined to
marry a girl with no gall bladder."

She reached for him and winced. Someone
cleared a throat behind them. Kyle swung to see a nurse giving him
a severe look.

"This young woman…." the nurse began.

"Don't interrupt him now!" Midu cried. "He
has to ask me."

The nurse frowned. "Ask you what?"

Midu waved away her question and turned to
Kyle. "If you don't ask me, I'm asking you."

Kyle's entire face lit with happiness. "We
wouldn't want that. I'd better get to it. Midu, will you marry
me?"

"Yes!"

The nurse smiled. "I'll give you two fifteen
minutes, and then I have to come back for vitals. But nothing makes
a patient heal faster than happiness."

Kyle reached for her again, and Midu buried
her head against his shoulder.

"I don't want to wait. I want to walk into a
church or go to the justice of the peace and tie the knot."

Kyle frowned. "What about your parents? Your
family?"

"They can come for the reception."

"But we've waited this long…."

"I can't wait another minute. Your family?"
she asked.

"Will be happy for me. They've known how much
I want this for a long time."

"And you never told me?"

He grew serious. "All you ever talked about
was how your produce would let you know when you met the right
one."

She could feel her expression fall. He was
right. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not. With Thea's life map, we know for
sure. There's no guess work involved. And I wouldn't have cared.
I'd have grabbed you and held on, no matter what your produce
said."

She did cry this time. Emerald Hills was full
of magic. This time, hers hadn't worked for her, but Thea Patek's
had. And what difference did it make? Magic was magic. And Kyle was
hers.

The End

Midu's Magic is the last novella in the
Emerald Hills series. Don't buy the individual novellas now. The
entire bundle will be available soon.

Find Judith online!

http://writingmusings.com/

http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/

Twitter: @judypost